Feb. 22, 2014

Curt Clawson / Special to news-press.com

Written by

Ledyard King

The News-Press Washington Bureau

Screen grab of Curt Clawson's commercial. / Special to The News-Press

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WASHINGTON — GOP congressional candidate Curt Clawson spent more than a decade at the helm of a multibillion-dollar company that bills itself as the world’s largest maker of wheels for cars and trucks.

But chances are most voters who have seen his recent campaign ads in Southwest Florida identify the Harvard Business School graduate not as the recent CEO of Hayes Lemmerz International, but as the sharp-shooting guard on Purdue University’s basketball team 30 years ago.

The Indiana native, who along with seven other candidates is vying for the House seat Republican Trey Radel vacated in January, is relying on a play call many former athletes have used in their first run for public office: highlight the sports background as a way to reach voters.

In a 30-second ad the campaign ran during the Super Bowl, Clawson is seen in a gym taking shots and challenging President Barack Obama to a three-point contest. Former legendary Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady stands on the sidelines, quietly cheering on his 1984 team captain.

“I want to take on Obama in Congress,” Clawson says into the camera before turning to the basket and swishing a three-pointer. “So why not start on the court?”

Other TV spots mention his business background while also playing up his sporting past. Even his campaign slogan — “Curt Clawson, The Outsider for Congress” — alludes to his talent as a long-distance shooter. A basketball is part of the logo.

Typical strategy

David Canon, political science professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison who has written about sports figures running for office, said Clawson’s strategy is typical of what many athletes do to relate to voters.

“Talking about his business background won’t have that same immediate connection,” Canon said. “For him, it’s not so much the name recognition or even the higher visibility that would allow him to be a better fundraiser. It’s more the hope that there are enough basketball fans out there and enough sports fans out there that he’ll be able to connect with some people on that basis.”

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Clawson said it’s about more than just sports. “I think that everybody that’s paid attention knows that the basketball and the outside shot is a metaphor for an outsider in politics, someone who’s not a career politician. And those that make too much of it might be missing the metaphor.”

The rolls of Congress count scores of former college and pro athletes among their ranks. Gerald Ford (football), Jack Kemp (football) and Jim Bunning (baseball) are among notable Republicans. Democrats includes Bill Bradley (basketball), Tom McMillen (basketball) and Heath Shuler (football).

Shuler, a University of Tennessee star quarterback who had a brief pro career, served three terms representing western North Carolina. Although he downplayed his sporting accomplishments, it was “a great icebreaker” on the campaign trail that became even more useful forging relationships with lawmakers.

“If (people) wanted to have a conversation, that was great,” he said. “But certainly during the campaign, I wouldn’t say I avoided it, but I certainly never brought it up.”

GOP Rep. John Runyan, serving his second term in the House representing southern New Jersey, played 14 seasons as offensive lineman in the NFL, mostly with the Philadelphia Eagles. His lawn signs were dark green and white — Eagles’ colors — and former teammates sometimes joined him at fundraisers. But, like Shuler, Runyan generally chose not to emphasize his athletic fame unless people brought it up.

“I used it a little bit just to draw analogies of teamwork and compromise,” he said. “Sometimes you might not agree with the call that’s made, whether it’s from the administration or from leadership in the House, but you’ve got to roll with it because if we’re all doing the same thing, we’re going to move forward. When we start to fracture, we end up with the Congress we have right now.”

Runyan and Shuler had an advantage Clawson doesn’t: They ran for Congress in areas where many voters were aware of their exploits and may have rooted for the teams they were on. Unless District 19 has many Indiana transplants, it’s unlikely they’ve heard of Clawson’s achievements at Purdue.

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Runyan and Shuler said their days in the sports spotlight also helped prepare them for a campaign because they were used to dealing with media and heightened public scrutiny.

But Clawson’s corporate background may prove to be more appealing to voters than his hardwood history anyway.

Former Olympic figure skater Wayne Seybold went door-to-door on roller blades when he ran for a central Indiana congressional seat in 2012. He said the gimmick worked: it reminded people he and his sister were pairs skaters in the 1988 winter Olympics.

But Seybold, mayor of Marion, Ind., since 2003, also found there had to be more to win a voter’s support. “I think when you’re an athlete, especially at the collegiate level or Olympic level, people go, “OK, this is a hard-working, dedicated individual if they got to the pinnacle of their sport’,” he said. “But what else have you done? If you try to use the sports story exclusively, that probably doesn’t work too well. If you can couple it with other things, it probably sets you aside a little bit.”

Clawson said he understands. “I think we wanted to start with an attention-getter. No more deep than that. We needed folks to know we were on the radar screen for later when we talked about issues of substance and political philosophy,” he said.